California Dressage Society Rosettes

I've written about my USDF Group Member Organization, the California Dressage Society (CDS), so many times that by now, even if you only drop in occasionally, you know all about them. But really and truly, it's a great GMO. While I have earned the first two Rider Performance Awards from USDF and have my sights set on someday earning my bronze and beyond, CDS offers so many incentive programs that I don't feel the need to join USDF as a participating member.

I look forward to receiving this small note every winter.

Last week, I received my plate showing how many Rosettes Speedy and I earned last year. CDS offers a trophy to the rider who earns the highest number of scores at 60% and above on a single horse. This year's recipient earned 14 or 15 scores (I can't remember which). We were really close this year with 13. 

All of our scores were over 60%.

I was excited to attach this plate to my plaque, but as I pulled it down off the wall, I gave a deep sigh. In six seasons, we've only moved through three levels. And, and to be even less discouraged, I am counting our time at Intro. We have got to be the slowest moving team of all time.

That's a lot of good scores, but ...

There are many reasons why we haven't moved more quickly. When we were prepared to move to Training Level, the tests were redone which put the canter work down to Intro so we spent an extra year down there. There have also been several seasons where Speedy was lame or injured (I am looking at you, 2016) which meant that we weren't ready to move up, so we repeated a level. 

Plenty of room!

This year, we're showing at Second Level. I am hoping that somewhere in the season we can eke out at least one score of 60%. It would take a ton of pressure off if we could do it at this first show in March. I am not holding my breath for that particular miracle though.

The good thing is that the plaque has room for plenty of plates. It's a good thing too, because I might be stuck at Second for just as long as I was at Training and First. The next three plates might easily all read Level 2 - 1 Rosette.

Let's hope not.